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I had often fallen into a view of God more like Zeus than YWVH of the Bible. A god in the sky with a large lightning bolt waiting to throw it at me as a result of some personal shortcoming. As I have matured in the Faith though I have seen that God is more interested in Blessing us than in punishing us. Punishment is reserved for those whose heart is continually bent toward rebellion against God who refuse His offer of grace and mercy. For the believer God offers a path of blessing!
The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, serving in the household of his Egyptian master. When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made everything he did successful, Joseph found favor in his master's sight and became his personal attendant. Potiphar also put him in charge of his household and placed all that he owned under his authority. From the time that he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house because of Joseph. The Lord's blessing was on all that he owned, in his house and in his fields.
Genesis 39:2-5 (HCSB)
"The Lord was with�" Strange to think that the Lord was with a man whose brothers ploted to kill him, chose instead to beat him up and leave him in a pit, decided instead to make a profit by selling him to slavery, then after getting the servant job with Potiphar was falsely accused of making sexual advances on Potiphar's wife (by his wife because he would not), Thrown in jail, and forgotten by one he helped in jail. I think if we had caught Joseph at any one of these moments we might have concluded that God was angry with Joseph. Not true though God was with him. What then are we to make of God being with him?
The blessing of God is not so much a promise for bad things to not happen to you (avoidance of consequences of living in a fallen world) as it is a promise to see you through it. Joseph for his part walked a life of integrity. He may not have been perfect, but trusted in God's mercy and grace in spite of his circumstances. God was with him blessing him in all that he did no matter what station of life he possessed.
"and he became a successful man." The blessing of God was in the successes not in the challenges. The challenges are opportunities for success. We often squander these opportunities by having a pity party or by losing our integrity. Either way we end up blocking God's desire to pour blessing into our lives. Note also that success was not his place in the social class. From slave (Gen 39:2), to prisoner (Gen 39:21), to prophet (Gen 41:28), to prime minster of Egypt (Gen 41:38-40) God was with Joseph and he was successful!
"The Lord blessed the Egyptians house because of Joseph." The blessing of God spills out into the lives of others when we live in this manner. We have a favorable influence on others and when others are favorable to us then they are blessed of God. Interesting this blessing is because of the believer and will be extended to unbelievers. This is in great contrast to the image of a God ready to send a bolt of lightning to pushed some ingratitude or offence.
So what is missing? People who are willing to stand in a place of integrity and to allow God to be with them and to not stand in the way of His blessing by bemoaning their circumstance or losing their faith. What is missing is God's Blessing
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